Losing Proposition

I agree with Margaret Sullivan that the Gray Lady completely missed the boat with its non-GOTCHA story about Zohran Mamdani's Columbia University application. 

But can someone tell me how we arrived at the place where Ben Ryan, the driving force behind the NYT piece, got labeled by anyone as a "right-wing freelancer" and a "major transphobe"? Ben was so destroyed by Clinton's loss in 2016 that he wound up in Bellevue, prompting the Daily Caller to gleefully make fun of him for it. (Wow, what a right-winger.) Later, Ben ripped me a new asshole for a comment I made online about Billy Porter's wearing a dress, which was intended to be pro genderqueer but was written tongue-in-cheek leading Ben to think I was being otherwise. (If anything, his overreaction shows that he's extremely sensitive to the gender plight.) 

"Regardless of whether there will ever be any winners in the battle of the genders, I choose being kind over waging war," he wrote earlier this year, in a piece that fleshed out his unenviable position reporting on pediatric gender medicine, which led to his getting ripped a new asshole, largely by the left. His infraction? Not being pro-trans in the "right" way. (Spoiler: As a science journalist, he has a nagging belief in science, which used to be a big-D Democratic tenet.) 

How depressing -- not to mention shockingly counterproductive -- that we have reached the point where everyone who doesn't agree with 100% of the most extreme orthodoxy is now instantly labeled "right-wing" or "anti-trans." At least when the right idiotically called all people they disagreed with "socialists" they were going after members of the OPPOSITE party. Look for Dems to continue losing national elections until this (and more) stops. 

By the way: Am I the only one who remembers how well things were going -- a pro-trans NBA boycott! -- before these unforced errors opened the door for the right to turn this nonballot issue into the most important thing on the minds of low-information voters, aka the majority of the electorate? 

Runner Nikki Hiltz Self-Identifies as a Trailblazer

Congrats to Nikki Hiltz for qualifying for the Olympics. That's an incredible feat. 

But this isn't really "bigger" than just Hiltz, as the middle-distance runner told NBC. No one ever said people who were assigned female at birth -- no matter how they identify -- shouldn't be allowed to compete against females. (If Hiltz were taking testosterone -- as a trans high-school boy who was wrestling against girls actually did -- then it would be an issue of fairness. Hiltz does not and competes solely against women.) 

So I question the utility of this pronouncement. Let me explain why. 

I know I've developed a reputation for being a bit ambivalent about the nonbinary identity, but only because I felt the whole idea was short-sighted: By saying you're neither or both genders it feels like you're only reinforcing gender stereotypes -- "I don't feel like a girl because I don't like to wear dresses" is inane -- so it always made more sense to me for so-called gender nonconforming people to make society accept them as WHATEVER kind of man or woman they wanted to be rather than being run out of their genders assigned at birth. (I thought "separate but equal" was constitutionally unsound, but what do I know?) 

Now Hiltz is reinforcing my qualms by describing herself as nonbinary AND transgender. If I were trans -- a group for whom I have nothing but empathy and support -- I would find this muddying of the water to be incredibly off-putting and counterproductive. The general public was finally starting to understand and support trans people (Jazz Jennings, Cailyn Jenner, Chaz Bono) in the wake of the late 2010s bullshit bathroom bills before the right cynically weaponized the issue, with help from activists' overreach and gender-identity word salad like this. 

Shorthand for confusion 

Wanting to be compassionate, I turned to Planned Parenthood to try to better understand someone who identifies as both and, sure enough, it confirmed that this is merely an act of self-indulgence. If Hiltz was born female and is trans, then logic would say he would be the preferred pronoun and he would compete against other men -- against whom he would fail miserably. But Hiltz goes by they/them, which is what nonbinary people typically do. 

While it's not Hiltz's fault that people don't know how to read, even members of the LGBT community are confused, so you can imagine the (completely unnecessary) outrage being stirred up in others

Yes, "transgender" is an umbrella term that can be used to describe anyone whose gender identity is different from the gender they were thought to be when they were born. But with nonbinary now a widely known term -- and one Hiltz self-identifies as -- why not leave trans for people born male who identify as female (and vice versa)? 

Bravo/a for making this all about themself, which to this old queer (still) seems to be at the heart of nonbinary-ism. (Nothing about Hiltz so far is disabusing me of that notion.) 

Don’t know anything about how Hiltz -- who, surprise(!), is in a relationship with a woman -- was raised. But I grew up playing with dolls and a Tuesday Taylor penthouse apartment and toy dishes and eschewed every sport except tennis, where I emulated Chris Evert (my idol) on (and off) the court. (I could purse my lips with the best of 'em!) And I'm very proud of the man I grew up to be. So in my heart I sincerely hope that Hiltz knows that there’s no shame in being just a garden-variety butch. 

But if nonbinary is who Hiltz is, could they at least do the LGBT community -- and particularly the transgender community -- a favor and not inflame the trans sports issue further by using this esoteric identity label? (Simply "nonbinary" is enough.) These headlines in 2024 are the opposite of helpful.

Jazz Musician Billy Tipton Was 'No Ordinary Man'

 

The long-overduue documentary about the mysterious Billy Tipton is finally here.

Description: 

American jazz musician Billy Tipton developed a reputable touring and recording career in the mid-20th century, along with his band The Billy Tipton Trio. After his death in the late '80s, it was revealed that Tipton was assigned female at birth, and his life was swiftly reframed as the story of an ambitious woman passing as a man in pursuit of a music career. The genre-defying documentary NO ORDINARY MAN seeks to correct that misrepresentation by collaborating with trans artists. As they collectively celebrate Tipton’s story as a musician living his life according to his own terms, they paint a portrait of a trans culture icon.

Watch the trailer BELOW.

Why Your Well-Meaning ‘Enlightenment’ Is Actually Hurting Trans Girls

EDITOR'S NOTE: I wrote about trans athletes on March 25 and then decided not to post it because despite how it may seem, this subject really isn't one of my hobby horses -- and I decided it didn't make sense to make it seem like it was. (I am a big fan of logic, however.) 

But then I saw this headline yesterday and about fell over laughing, so decided to go ahead and share. The NCAA wants you to applaud that it backs transgender athletes and says its events will be in places "free of discrimination." That's great news. But what you might not be considering is that the NCAA's self-described "more inclusive" policy for transgender athletes requires testosterone-suppression treatment for transgender women to compete in women's sports, which just happens to be THE ONLY THING that many reasonable people -- including a number of LGBTQ activists -- who have been blasted as transphobic have been asking pro-inclusion activists to consider for post-pubescent athletes. And I'm convinced this entire new anti-trans movement could have been shot down -- just like the actually transphobic bathroom bills were -- if we had not allowed the hive mind of showing how much we "get it" to cloud our own sound judgment and give bigots a narrow but valid opening they were looking for. Read what I wrote HERE.